Justin "Oliver Stone" Bourne wonders whether or not the Canucks are giving Luongo an easy start tonight to try and boost his numbers and make him more attractive to rival General Managers (assuming those rival GMs place entirely too much stock in small samples). Hey, after the trick Mike Gillis pulled with Hodgson a year ago you do kind of have to wonder, though that said, I tend to think it's more likely that Mike Gillis is showcasing Keith Ballard in an effort perhaps to bank the club's two compliance buyouts? [Backhand Shelf]

Here's what I think is actually going on. Here's a quote Mike Gillis gave Ben Kuzma on Tuesday, in which he reacted like he was tired of answering the same old Luongo trade questions: "I don't know why people refuse to believe the fact that we're comfortable with these guys (Cory Schneider and Luongo), given the circumstances we're in." So on Tuesday Mike Gillis tells Ben Kuzma that he's confused as to why people insist on believing that Vancouver is uncomfortable with Luongo and Schneider sharing the crease and on Wednesday Alain Vigneault proves that the Canucks consider Luongo more than just a backup by giving him his second start in a row. Leverage baby! [The Province]

Good stuff from faceoff fetishist Harrison Mooney on how Jordan Schroeder's ability to win face-offs is, in part, dicatating his usage and ice-time in his rookie season. Maybe this is a crazy thing to say, but does anyone else kind of think that Jordan Schroeder has some Kyle Wellwod potential? After all, Kyle Wellwood with a commitment to fitness sounds like a guy I'd like to have on my team! [Pass it to Bulis]

Nicklas Jensen will take a short leave from his SEL team (AIK) and do his utmost to try and help Denmark qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. I still really want the Canucks to go after pending UFA Peter Regin this offseason, give him a bionic shoulder transplant, and role with an all Danish line of Jensen-Regin and Jannik Hansen next season. We could call them the Something is Rotten line. [The Vancouver Sun]

This is neat in a random as a fuck kind of way: a Canucks Fan wore his Stan Smyl jersey while playing the Canadian national anthem at the KIHL championship game in Taiwan. Jordan Bowman has footage and more details. [Legion of Blog]

Thomas Drance lives in Toronto, eats spicy food and writes about hockey. He is the editor in chief of the Nation Network (a.k.a Overlord), and an opinionated blowhard to boot. You can follow him on twitter @thomasdrance.

I've been touting Regin as a player worth looking at for a while now. With his injury history and the Sens' collection of centres I can't imagine he'd be too expensive to pick up at the deadline. Could fit into that 3rd line spot nicely (when he's healthy).

The player I'm intersted in is a youngster named Mattias Janmark-Nylen( 19years old 6'/190 ) centre plays on the same AIK as Jensen and has fundamentally put up the same points as Jensen and is undrafted.

Funny enough I put this question on the Canucks board and it was removed within about 5 minutes ? :-)